21 October 2010

Next week the 4th book of the Blood Line series is going to be released. Today Maria Lima, the author of the series, is here to answer some questions about it.You can also read my review of the book here.

Texas is heating up. . .

The summer heat wave that’s hit Rio Seco, Texas, has even the vampires complaining, but with Keira—the Kelly heir—home from Vancouver, the weather isn’t the only thing too hot to handle. Keira should be setting up her court and planning the big reception where she and her consort, vampire ruler Adam Nightwalker, will receive the magical leaders from the local area, but pomp and circumstance just aren’t Keira’s thing, especially not with trouble smoldering in her domain. A werewolf couple has mysteriously gone missing from a local pack, and when Keira is asked by their leader to investigate, she finds that some dissatisfied neighbors may have been taking—well—strong action against the wer community … action that could be repeated, and could involve Keira and those she loves. So, with the reception looming and danger fast blazing out of control, the pressure is on Keira to keep Texas safe for supernaturals. Sometimes, it’s just not that great to be Heir…

- How much research do you do before starting to write a book?

Tons! At the beginning, I tend to have a vague idea of the primary plot line and a more concrete idea of what the next phase of Keira's arc will be. So I troll the Internet, doing searches, finding articles, etc. Eventually, I narrow down the theme, then is when I begin to collect images and more information. I read, I watch documentaries, even fictional shows. For BLOOD HEAT, I watched the entire first and second seasons of SONS OF ANARCHY, which is about a biker club and loosely based on Hamlet. It gave me a great sense of the closed society of the club and how the various hierarchies worked.

- Which of all your books did you have more fun writing?

Tough question! I have a blast writing all of them. To date, though, BLOOD KIN holds a special place in my heart because I got to go to Vancouver for a week to research.

- What are you working on right now?

Currently working on BLOOD SACRIFICE, the 5th book in the Blood Lines series. That's due in December.

- What can you tell us about Blood Heat?

BLOOD HEAT's main theme is about hatred and distrust of the "other". Oddly enough, I seem to have been a bit prescient, in that I do have some bullying/hate crimes which is so prevalent in the current U.S. news. I wrote this book more than a year ago. There are several discoveries in BLOOD HEAT about Keira's past, some fun, some less fun.

- The Seelie and Unseelie courts play very important parts in the books, but not a lot is known about them. What are the main differences between them? How big a role are they going to play in future books?

Primarily, they are both tricksy and out for their own good. The primary difference is that the Seelie Court will couch everything in pretty lies. The Unseelie Court is more direct. They are both extremely dangerous. We'll get to see a bit more about the courts in BLOOD SACRIFICE.

- I'm curious about Keira's mother. Are we going to meet her any time soon?

Keira's mother, Branwen, has always been a bit of an issue. Because the books are in Keira's point of view, all we know is what Keira knows or people tell her. Branwen definitely plays a bigger role in BLOOD SACRIFICE. We find out a bit more about why she treated Keira as she did and a few other things about her.

- One of the things I love the most about your books are Keira's brothers, but we haven't met all of them. What can you tell us about the ones we haven't met yet?

Ciprian, the eldest brother is the clan's financier. He's like the chief accounting officer if this were to translate into corporate speak. He's very stick-in-the-mud and a rule follower, mostly because he has to be. He's also a whiz at finance and investments.

Hamish & Duncan are the next down after Tucker. They are not in North America with Gigi. Duncan is a stage actor, mostly West End London and some other EU venues. Hamish lives in Japan studying Japanese history and teaching English to salarymen. They are both unattached for now and haven't had any children for decades.

- It was revealed in Blood Kin that there were two Kelly heirs. Is Gigi happy about how things turned out for her Clan?

As clan chieftan, Gigi's public face is that she's well pleased at how things have turned out...except, maybe not so much. I can't give away a lot, but the main throughline in BLOOD SACRIFICE deals with this very issue.

- We more or less know that Keira started her training with Gigi and others of her family. What I'm wondering is, what happened to Gideon?

Ah, well, you'll find out a LOT more about what Gideon's been up to in BLOOD SACRIFICE. Let's just say he's not been a good little boy.

- Bea and Keira have always had a very close friendship. Are they going to patch things up anytime soon?

Yup. They patch things up in BLOOD HEAT and their friendship is stronger than ever.

- One of the things I've been wondering about is what happens when someone in the Clan has a baby. Is it raised by his mother / father or does the whole Clan raise it? How does that work?

Because this clan is so diverse in ethnicity and types of marriages/relationships, child-rearing decisions are left up to each family group. In Tucker's case, he was happy to let his children be raised by the clan. Each child was fostered to a family. The twins usually spent time helping to rear their own kids. Keira was raised by her two aunts and sort of by Tucker. It's fairly rare that a mother/father pairing raise kids by themselves, as the clan is more apt to share in educating and caring for the children, especially since until Keira and Marty, children tended to be home schooled.